The USMCA (known as the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement and CUSMA (known as the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement) is a free trade agreement between Canada, Mexico, and the United States and replaced the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement ). This new USMCA/CUSMA agreement is often referred to as “NAFTA 2.0”, or “New NAFTA”, since very little changes were made from the NAFTA, which was a trilateral rules-based trade bloc in North America.
USMCA/CUSMA came into effect on July 1, 2020 and supersedes NAFTA, which came into force on January 1, 1994 and superseded the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
The USMCA/CUSMA’s goal continues to be to eliminate barriers with trading and investment between the three signing countries. USMCA/CUSMA continues to allow 63 professional occupations to qualify and work in another member country without having to re-qualify under the host country’s certification standards. Valid job offers from a Host Country Company is a pre-requisite to obtaining a USMCA/CUSMA work permit.
A Treaty National (TN) work permit is obtainable if:
- You are a citizen of Canada, Mexico or the United States
- Your profession or a “close equivalent” is listed and qualifies under the USMCA/CUSMA regulations
- You have a prearranged full-time. part-time or intermittent job with a Host Country
- You have the qualifications to practice in the profession in question
